Member

I hope the Minister will be able to give the Committee a sense of what the Government expect the relevant decision-making period to be. As currently drafted, the Bill leaves this timescale yet again to be defined in secondary legislation. That would allow the rules to be varied at relatively short notice and without the consent of the clubs that are being regulated. This is another example of our concern at the secondary powers here and the lack of clarity for those who will feel the force of them. The attempt through this amendment is to close the gap between the expectations of the regulator and the expectations on clubs. If we expect prospective owners to inform the regulator in a timely manner of their intention to buy a regulated club, then by extension we must surely expect the regulator to respond in a timely manner.